Transcription
All right. Well, I was a victim of identity theft and someone stole a car using my information. Um, this is what happened to me on Friday when I was on the air doing this show. I started receiving alerts from my credit card company, actually, um, from Capital One, that my credit was being run.
Basically, I was getting these alerts that there had been some credit inquiries on my credit reports, and I saw that there were four notifications of this. So, when the show was over, I went and logged into my Capital One account to find out what was going on. They rerouted me to the credit aspect of it and showed that there were these four inquiries on my credit report. Inquiries that I absolutely was not the one making. So, I thought, "Oh, no. Somebody is actually, uh, they clearly have access to my information. Otherwise, these would not show up on my credit report."
So, um, four different ones. I didn't, I recognized one of them. I thought, well, this one, you know, I know that they do. I think, uh, I thought actually, well, I was mistaken. I actually thought one of them was a credit card company. And so, I thought, okay, somebody's trying to open up a credit card under my name.
But I ended up turning to ChatGPT, believe it or not, and went and, and, you know how a lot of times on your credit report or when you go to your bank statements, a lot of times the, you know, it's kind of abbreviated. You don't really see the full, um, whoever you bought the thing from or whoever was running the credit, it's kind of an abbreviation. And so they weren't exactly easy to read, these four different inquiries. So I copied and pasted them and put them into ChatGPT. And I said to Chat, "Hey, uh, somebody is trying to open up some sort of line of credit under my name. Can you identify what these, what they're trying to buy? I mean, is this a credit card? Is this a personal loan? Like, what type of credit are they trying to get under my name?"
And ChatGPT looks at this and says, "Well, uh, they're trying to buy a car, and here's my reasoning for thinking they're trying to buy a car because this is a lender for, for one, this is a lender that does many different types of loans, but they also specialize in car loans. Here's another one. You know, most of the lenders do very different types of loans, but mostly car loans." And the reason why Chat knew that it was for sure a car loan was because one of the lenders was an abbreviated form for an actual car dealership. And so Chat says, "That's the actual car dealership, and they might even be there now trying to buy the car. So you should call that car dealership," is what ChatGPT told me.
So yes, I mean, I use Chat on this. It ended up working out really well. I, there's a lot of things I don't use Chat for, but when it comes to things like this, you know, the computer, the AI is smart enough to detect what exactly are these abbreviations, you know, that my human brain is not aware of. And luckily, Chat identified this as a car dealership and somebody trying to buy a car. So I contacted that car dealership. They actually told me that it was a car dealership in Arlington, Texas, where I'm living right now. I'm in Boise, Idaho at the moment. And that somebody had attempted to buy a car there, or maybe even successfully did.
So I call them up and I get on the phone with them and I say, "Look, uh, this is who I am, and somebody has apparently been trying to buy a car there, and they might even be there." Well, at first, they were like, "Okay, you know, I got the receptionist." And they're like, "Let me get you to the right person." And of course, I get through to voicemail. And so I call back and they, "Okay, let me get you to a different person." And of course, I end up in voicemail again. So I call back a third time and I say, "Listen, um, this, the credit is being run right now. I'm getting these alerts, and this person might be there right now trying to buy a car right now."
And the person says to me, "Well, actually, I did ask, and I, I, I found out that this was yesterday." And I said, "Did they get the car?" And the person said, "Yeah, they did. They got the car." So, uh, finally, this person is able to page the general manager, get the general manager on the phone, and the general manager says to me, um, you know, "I can't really give you a ton of information. We'll work with the police, but yes, this person was in. They had the right identification. They had identification." So, they were using my name. They used my social security. They used my birthday. Uh, that is the information they had. They didn't have the right address, and they actually didn't really have the right name. The name wasn't quite right, but it's still, um, but it, it worked well enough for them when they ran the credit that apparently the lenders were not triggered that this was fraud. The name was just slightly wrong. Um, but nonetheless, they were able to drive off with a car.
Now, I do not know how much this car is valued at, but I would imagine that, you know, maybe it was anywhere from $20 to $50,000 of a car that they were able to run off with under my name, under my social, under my birthday, birthday. Now, what does that mean for me? Well, that means that I'm potentially on the hook for this car that is, you know, obviously this person's not going to make those payments. They just stole a car, and they stole a car using my name and my identity. And so, uh, and and they had a, a different, you know, they had an ID with their photograph on it and all of my information except for my address, and they bought a car with this. So, I'm now, according to the lender, I would be the one that's held responsible.
Where this is ruinous is I would be the one that has to pay back this loan unless I could prove that I am not the person who bought this car. So, immediately, the, the right step to do is first I called the dealership and I said, "This wasn't me. I'm all the way in the state of Idaho." Um, which is a good alibi. You have to actually come up with an alibi. So, when somebody steals your identity, you have to treat it like it's not just you're a victim and woe is me. You have to prove you're not the perpetrator. That's the thing that sucks in identity theft. And you have to remember this. You have to come up with your alibi as quickly as possible and document it. If you were somewhere at that time that you think this theft happened, you need to get the video surveillance. You've got to do everything you can to prove it wasn't you because they will stick this on you. The lender will act like you're the one who could, you're you bought a car. Who knows what you did with the car. You're just trying to get out of paying for it. You're coming up with some scam saying that you were that you were the victim of identity theft, and really you're just the loser that won't pay for your car.
So, in the event of identity theft, just remember you have to come up with an alibi, and sometimes it's not that easy. Luckily, in my circumstance, the person physically went into the dealership and physically bought a car and physically drove off with the car. It would be a lot harder if this were an online credit card that they opened up and charged it up. Um, especially if it was in the area where you actually reside, that would be very, very difficult to prove that it wasn't you. You'd have to go and gather surveillance. I mean, you have to go and do all this legwork. So, just keep that in mind if this happens to you. Not to just set it and, well, it wasn't me, so I don't know. They'll figure it out. No, no, no, no. You got to go build your alibi.
So, I had to go to the police here in Idaho. Luckily for me, I happened to be also at the day that this happened. It actually happened on Thursday. I got the alerts on Friday, and they said, "Well, it happened yesterday." And they drove off with the car. Earlier that day, while they were, um, while, well, actually Thursday, we actually ran a pre-recorded show, uh, because we needed the day off to do business stuff. Uh, my producers needed to go to, um, you know, do government stuff, and I also needed to go do government stuff on Thursday. So it worked out for me. It's the only time in my life I can say I am so glad I was sitting all day at the DMV. But I was sitting all day at the DMV and with all of my documentation in order to change my driver's license to a Real ID, which means I had my passport, my birth certificate, my social security card, my marriage cert, these things to prove that I was me in order to get a Real ID. Plus, they took a photograph of me. Plus, they have surveillance all over the DMV. So, I lucked out that my alibi is airtight. Thank goodness, because this wasn't a small purchase.
A lot of people when I told them I was a victim of identity theft, they said, "Well, I had somebody steal $800 from me," or somebody else said, "Oh, somebody else opened up a credit card and and took a thousand dollars or however much money." This is, I mean, tens of thousands of dollars for a car. So, I could be on this could be ruinous for me. I mean, this could ruin my credit and cause all kinds of future nightmares. Luckily for me, I was at the DMV. The only time I could say this, I should send them a gift basket. And I luckily I am on record in a government office with all of my documentation getting a Real ID. So, I had to go to the police department as soon as I found out. I had to file a police report with the local police. Then, I had to call the Dallas police or the, uh, Arlington police in Texas and file a police report with them. I also had to file a report with the government at identitytheft.gov. And then, uh, once I gather all of these reports and I have them, then I call the lender and let the lender know that this was total and complete fraud and it wasn't me, and this, I'm a victim of identity theft, and do not come after me for this loan.
And I have to keep all this documentation because in the next five, six years, who knows, two years, five years, ten years, the lender could come after me potentially forgetting, you know, people, I'm sure, switch out of that job a lot, you know, revolving door, and somebody else gets in there and and maybe the file's not, or maybe they sell the debt to some collection, and the collector's like, "Nah, we'll still nab them. We'll get her, you know, we'll get that Kim lady." And they could come after me, and I have to prove once again for however many years. I don't know. It could be a nightmare. That kind of a saga that goes on forever where I have to continue to prove I had an alibi. I wasn't in Texas. I was sitting at the Idaho DMV. Here are all the police reports. This is the government report. The investigation's been done. It wasn't me. Stop coming after me. Do not ruin my credit. They could still ruin my credit, and then I have to contest that there's going to be potentially a nightmare in my future when it comes to this.
Um, so I, you know, this is a cautionary tale to let you know about what could happen, you know, to you if you end up being a victim of identity theft and how difficult it actually is to deal with. Um, luckily I was able to find out about it right away. So, this wasn't something that popped up on my credit report later. Luckily, my credit card company, and I think many of the credit card, if you have any of the big credit card companies, I think many of them have like these kind of credit watch, uh, kind of systems. You should absolutely sign up for one of those credit watch systems and have it ping you right away. Uh, but really, what you should all be doing, and my one piece of advice from all of this, is you should freeze your credit. That was something I had not done. Uh, it is free. All you have to do is you create an account on each of the, you know, you've got Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You create accounts on all three of these major credit companies, and you just go in and freeze your credit. The freeze lasts for a year. Uh, this means no one can open up, including yourself. You cannot open credit. You can't get credit cards. You can't get car loans, personal loans, none of that. Um, but you can unfreeze it when you decide that you want to buy something or get a credit line for whatever reason. You can unfreeze it and then refreeze it when you're done doing that, which I recommend everybody go and do.
There's another level you can do, which is a 7-year freeze, which requires a much deeper level of scrutiny from people that are giving you credit. They have to do more double checks and triple checks and whatnot. And that you have to actually file, uh, physically. You have to send in proof of your identity to one of the three credit bureaus. And that puts a freeze on your credit for seven years. That's more intense. And they, that one credit bureau shares it with the other two. So you only have to do it once to one of the credit bureaus, and then they share it. But, um, right now, what you should do to protect yourself, what I learned, the lesson I learned was go and freeze your credit and unfreeze it when you need it. And every year, just put a reminder on your calendar to keep your credit frozen for a year or do the extra level step, which is what I'm going to do now that I know that I've been a victim and I'm going to be submitting all the paperwork for the seven-year freeze. I've already put the initial one-year freeze on, but I want a more severe, uh, freeze on my credit because of this because this person is running around with an ID with all of, you know, with a lot of my information and potentially opening up trying to open up other lines of credit. Um, so do that.
Now, some of people have been asking me, what about these companies that, you know, they monitor your identity, they protect you from identity theft? Uh, I, I've had two of those services actively, and this still happened to me. So, you know, I'm not, I maybe my information was already out there before I signed up for these services a year or two ago or three years. Some of one of the services I've had for many years. Um, I mean, I don't know. Thieves are, they're, uh, they're clever, and they're able to figure out the workarounds and how they can get your information, and they were still able to get it. So, I had that. I even have like the DeleteMe stuff online to try to get rid of all of my information. Uh, it didn't, I mean, I was still a victim of pretty significant identity theft. This is grand theft auto. It's massive, major. Uh, if they catch the person, there's a possibility I have to testify against them and go through the court case and all of that because this is such a major theft. Uh, so it is a nightmare. It's a total and complete full-on nightmare.
I was lucky I was at the DMV. I have an airtight alibi. Plus, I'm not in the state of Texas. I haven't been in the state of Texas for a very, very long time. I have proof of exactly where I am and what I've been doing every day. Uh, but I just, all I can say is freeze your credit. Uh, protect your, that's the best, maybe. I don't even know. I think that works. I thought the other stuff worked. It didn't really work for me. So, I don't know. Um, I'm sure the other stuff maybe helps. I'm sure everything helps. But I think the age of the internet, it's just really, really difficult to really fully protect yourself online, and you could end up a, a victim of identity theft.
My other piece of advice is if it happens to you, hopefully, you know, put flags for credit monitoring, pay for credit monitoring, whether through your credit card or through, you know, you pay for it, a third-party service, and make sure you get alerts right away on your phone whenever there's a change to your credit or an inquiry on your credit, so that you find out right away rather than waiting until you go and apply for a loan and they say, "Well, you know, you've had this loan and you haven't been paying for it." Because you wouldn't get the notices. They're not being sent to your correct email. They're not being sent to your correct phone, and they're not being sent to your correct address. But they're using your social, they're using your birthday, and it's going on your credit report, and you wouldn't know if you didn't have this credit monitoring system. So, I do think that helps the most probably, uh, besides freezing your credit and finding out early.
And when you do, go and get your alibi. Do not forget that you have to have an alibi. Uh, don't, don't, uh, don't mess around with that. Go and go and prove where you were and when you were and that you were not the one who took out that line of credit. And I'm going to hope, fingers crossed, that that spares me. But I'm not out of the woods yet. I don't know when I'll be out of the woods, if ever. This might be something that haunts me for years to come. I don't know. This was a very large purchase. Huge amount of money. So, um, keep yourself protected, guys. But that is my nightmare story, unfortunately. Um, yeah, really sucky.
All right. Uh, now let's get on with it. Dr. Drew Pinsky, absolutely my radio hero. Uh, excited to talk to him. Finally getting him here on the show. So, let's get to it. Dr. Drew, thank you for watching this clip from the full Kim Iverson show, which you can catch Monday through Friday, 2:00 p.m. Pacific, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, at KimIversonShow.com. It is free for you to watch. Again, 2 p.m. Pacific, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. KimIversonShow.com. See you there.